Can other people simply publish your photos? What are the things you should keep in mind when launching a web store? After the summer, the Clinic will start offering free legal assistance to private persons and new businesses.
“Specialised legal assistance has become too expensive for many people”, says lawyer Vita Zwaan (photo). She works at the Amsterdam lawyer’s office SOLV, specialised in matters related to the internet and media.
The office is launching the Clinic in order to offer a solution to the entrepreneur who wants to start a web store and wants to know what stipulations he must fulfil, Zwaan says. Or to the photographer who is wondering whether other people can simply use his photos.
Controversial cases will not be avoided. For example, the Amsterdam anti-Islam cartoonist Gregorius Nekschot, whose house was searched because he is suspected of discrimination, could get advice from the Clinic.
The same applies to the activists who published personal details of employees of the Immigration and Naturalisation Service on a website, to protest the treatment of immigrants.
The advice will be given by six students who have been selected for their expertise and who will be supervised by SOLV. The Clinic will not start legal procedures: only lawyers can do that.
At the website of the Clinic, there will be a form to submit questions. Answers will be given by telephone or web cam. Written advice will as yet not be given, since that would be too time-consuming, resulting in fewer people being assisted. SOLV is looking for sponsors to fund the initiative.
SOLV is an office that is constantly trying to innovate, Zwaan says. For example, it was the first lawyer’s office to have its own weblog. Also, art is published on the office’s website. Currently, it contains photos by photographer Thomas Schlijper, ‘today’s Ed van der Elsken’.
The Clinic (in Dutch). Photo: SOLV
Tags: Amsterdam, Internet, Legal Aid, SOLV, Start-Up, Thomas Schlijper, Vita Zwaan
